How long does it take to return exams?

For anyone who's reading this, who's ever had me as a prof, you might recall that I ALWAYS return exams and assignments the next class day.  In more than 20 years of teaching, I made that a matter of policy.  And decency.

I took this wretched midterm two weeks ago now.  And so far no word as to when we will get it back or find out how we did.  It doesn't help that I KNOW I screwed it up too.  So the waiting goes on.  And the guy has TWO TAs for the course.  Hell.

On a different, but equally unsettling, matter, some guys in class kept calling me Sir.  Sigh.  Thanks for being polite and all that.  But on a day like today especially, when my knee hurts and my back aches, I really don't need to be reminded of my age.   Oh well.  I'll just think of myself as aged whisky.  😎

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Watched this in class today. Pretty cool stuff.

https://youtu.be/cZ7LzE3u7Bw

Financial Illiteracy starts early

I think it's common knowledge that people can't write.  Nor can they spell.  Nor do they know the first thing about grammar.
But surely in our money-dependent world, you'd think we'd have SOME financial literacy skills?  Assuredly not.

Take this guy I know in class.  He's not a business major, so at least there's some consolation.  But he's doing some sort of international development thing.  You know, like helping third world countries become economically viable, that kind of stuff.

Somehow he thinks I know something about business things.  Hmm, can't think why.  Anyway, he sent me a desperate massage.  "Help!  I have this assignment due, and I have no idea what to do," he said. 

Well, he didn't exactly use those words.  But you get the point.

So, being the nice guy that I am, I asked him to show me what this crazy-ass problem was.

Here it goes:

Joe has $300 to spend.  He wants to buy some DVDs, which costs $10 each, and he also wants to buy some books, which costs $25 each.   If x is the number of DVDs he buys, and y is the number of books he buys, express his budgetary constraint in the form of an equation.

Part II.  If Joe decides to buy 10 books, how many DVDs can he buy?

OK, my friends.  That's basically the gist of it.  Something to that effect.

How could this become such a difficult task for my friend?  It didn't start at university.  This is something one should have picked up in fourth grade or something.  Seriously.  I did.  It's not his fault that he found this difficult.  It's the education system's fault.  It's the parents' fault.  Life is too easy for kids.

And in the end, they suffer the consequences.

I don't want this yet

I am really not ready to wake up to this yet.  I guess I should put away the shorts for the season.  Finally.  Sigh!

Coffee is in my blood

This is how much coffee ground in one day.... KICKING HORSE 454 Horsepower.  Try it!

Dinner anyone?

These babies are 18 oz each NY strips.  Yum!

Chunski on the war path

Just got a history paper back.  The fucking TA does not seem to know what "received view" means.  And she is in the phd program?
Fuck. I lost points because she is ignorant.  I don't mind losing points because she disagrees with content, or even style.  But when it's because she is a fucking illiterate, that really pisses me off.

Sigh.  I can go and yell at her, and I will win.  But I will also come across as an arrogant bastard (ok, so I am).  Damn moron!

Happy thoughts and Not so happy thoughts

Happy

On my way to campus this morning, a bus raced by.  Some distance behind, a girl, laden with a big backpack, struggled to run to the bus stop a good 500 ft away.

Run, run, I said under my breath.  Didn't think she would get there.

But the bus waited for her!  She's probably in even worse shape than me.  The 500 ft took her a while.  But the bus waited patiently for her.

It gave me a warm feeling that there are still nice people out there.

Not So Happy

It's hard to be among these kids.  Here are some things I would LOVE to say to them.

You don't begin a sentence with So for no reason.  The word is not a filler.

Why do you raise the last syllable if you're not asking a question?

Don't waltz into class half a fucking hour late.

Why say LIKE 15 times in one short sentence?  You are literate.  Show it.

Stop shaking your fucking leg.

It is would HAVE, not would of!

Lose those damn phones already.  Especially when you are driving or walking!  Fuck!

Studying studying studying

How cool is it to listen to Jenkins singing Angus Dei, drink some high-octane Sumatra, eat some garlic crackers, AND study at the same time!

Now, if there's whisky to fortify the coffee, it'd be so much better!

 

Is it Camelot?

Interesting idea for a course

http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/phofstra/MAT1374/index.html


What an interesting way to teach stats.  If not for the stupid group project (click on link for details), and if not for the inclusion of STUPID and RIDICULOUS game theory, I'd sign up for it!

Interesting Grade Distribution

This morning we got the results of Anthropology's first mid-term.  For a first year course, I am quite surprised by the grade distribution.  It looks like this:

Out of a class of 228,

32 F
19 D/D+
44 C/C+
57 B/B+
56 A-/A
20 A+

Well, still quite a lot of As (like a third of the total), but look at the Fs and Ds.  That's about a quarter of the class.  And the class average is kinda low for a first year class, no?


We found out how we did online.  This guy I know says to me, "It's actually easier than high school."  OK.  This comes AFTER he found out he got 52%.  AFTER.  So...something doesn't compute, no?

It will be interesting to see how the other classes will fare in the coming weeks.  Lots of mid terms coming.  Time to hit the books!

Getting my donuts

Half a dozen cinnamon,half a dozen coconut lime.  Freshly made.  So yummy....

Food trucks on campus!

Wish the food were free!  

Sorry for the quality of the picture.  Was in a bit of a rush going to class.  It's Comfort Food Festival at the university, apparently.  I guess with the midterms and stuff going on, people could use some comfort food.  If they are still there tomorrow, maybe I'll go check them out as well.

Nice place for a swim

Tree can't make up its mind yet

Gotta find long pants today

A bit on the cool side.

UO business school

What Hoover will look like after they built the gym!

Random thoughts at 6:30 AM

This was the time when I would be pulling into MY parking spot in Hoover.  The sky was beginning to lighten, and I looked forward to my fifth cup of coffee.

That was then, and this is now.  I'm 500 miles further north, and it's still pitch black out there.  And I'm still in the comfort of my apartment, only into my SECOND cup of java, glad to indoors while out there it's a relatively frigid 7 degrees C  (that's around 45 F).

I have a mid term in Anthropology coming up, as you may recall.  Well, I felt I should do some studying, but it's really hard!  I mean, studying, what's that?  It's not a lot of material (there are two midterms, which makes you wonder if they should actually be called MID terms...but that's another story.  The prof is an anthropologist.  Stats are probably alien to her).  Just five chapters and four or five articles.  Ok, here's the thing.  I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.  Seriously. 

Giving up on memorization because that's just not going to happen, I went through the book, my notes (I actually took notes!), the articles, the films..., and my head hurt.  An hour and a half later, I needed to stop.

So I decided to start my Horror Fiction term paper (it's due December 5).  Hey, I finished it!  It doesn't mean it's any good (Heavens know what an English term paper is supposed to look like.  Hope she's not looking for that 5-paragraph crap).  But it's in a drawer now.  I'll let it age a bit before editing and revisions.  It's 2,000 words of BS, but that's literature, right?

Now here's something I've never realized before.  See, my apartment is across from a park.  There's a baseball field (what the hell do you call it?  A field, a park, a pitch?) in the park, and often times some league or other hold matches in the evenings.

Well, weather's getting colder, and I think the league is about the end.  So for a couple of nights, no baseball games in the park.  I began to miss seeing the players out there.  I don't know them or anything, but it's good to see these people (grown ups, co-ed) having a ball (pardon the pun).

Then last night they were playing again.  Maybe it's the playoffs or something?  I don't know.  But they had become such a familiar sight that it felt like old friends visiting.  Strange, isn't it?  Or is a result of having too little coffee?

See how you like this line:   On the other side lurks the latent contradictions that belie what is apparent, the very contradictions that render unstable the foundational discourse of society.

That's from that paper I was writing.  I think it's great.  Haha.